1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system and method for processing a wafer, and more particularly to a system and method for using run-to-run control and dynamic sampling to improve within wafer uniformity and process throughput.
2. Description of the Related Art
The use of feed forward controllers has long been established in the fabrication of semiconductor integrated circuits by semiconductor manufacturing facilities (fabs). Until recently, wafers were treated as a batch or a lot, with the same processing performed on each of the wafers in the lot. The size of the lot varies depending on the manufacturing practices of the fab but is typically limited to a maximum of 25 wafers. Measurements were routinely made on a few wafers in the lot and adjustments made to the processing based on these sample measurements. This method of control based on sample measurements on the lot and process recipe adjustments for the following lots is called lot-to-lot (L2L) control. The process models and information necessary to modify the process recipes for L2L control were kept and the computations were performed at the fab level. Recently, manufacturers of semiconductor processing equipment (SPE) have included the ability to measure each wafer immediately before and after the processing is performed. The capability to measure each wafer on the processing tool is called integrated metrology (IM). IM enabled the ability to measure and adjust the process recipe at the wafer-to-wafer (W2W) level and the within wafer (WIW) level.
The structures on the semiconductor wafers have not only decreased in size but also have increased in density causing additional processing control problems. Areas on semiconductor wafers have been identified as being isolated areas or nested areas based on the density of structures within the particular area and problems have developed in the semiconductor processing due to these different densities.
The need for trim etch has become common, and many methods have been developed for trimming the Critical Dimension (CD) for gate length control. Isolated/nested control has become part of the mask design process, including the modeling of the process through the etcher. The isolated/nested model designed into the mask making process however is optimized for a single CD target related to an isolated or nested structure. Mask bias control is by use of the optical and process correction (OPC), sometimes called optical proximity correction, in which the apertures of the reticule are adjusted to add or subtract the necessary light to increase pattern fidelity. Another approach is phase-shift masks (PSM), in which topographic structures are created on the reticule to introduce contrast-enhancing interference fringes in the image.